Between writing content, implementing SEO strategies, meeting tight deadlines, and evaluating campaign results, digital marketers tend to have a lot of spinning plates up in the air at any given moment. With so much going on, it’s easy to drop a plate or two by missing a deadline or letting a crucial task fall through the cracks.
But fortunately, there is a solution. The key to improving the productivity and efficiency of your digital marketing team is using workflow management software.
What is Workflow Management?
Before you learn about how these tools can help, it’s important to understand the concept of workflow management.
A workflow is a series of tasks that must be completed in a certain order to reach a specific business outcome.
For example, say you want to get reimbursed for business expenses. To achieve this specific business outcome, you may need to complete this series of tasks:
- Fill out a business expense reimbursement form.
- Submit it to Human Resources for approval.
- Verify you have been reimbursed for your expenses.
Every time you submit for reimbursements, these are the steps you must take in order to complete; they never change.
Every digital marketing team uses countless workflows to complete a wide variety of tasks. Workflow management tools can help digital marketers manage each of these workflows and make sure each task is being completed correctly and on time.
Benefits of Using Workflow Management Tools
There are a number of different benefits to using workflow management tools, including:
- Keeps Projects Organized
- Simplifies Status Request Tracking
- Easier to Scale Business
- Ensures Everyone Follows the Same Process
- Reduces Manual Work
Keeps Projects Organized
A workflow management tool can keep your team’s tasks organized. The tool will store everything related to a specific task, including data, documents, notes, and conversations between the parties involved.
Everything will be in one place, so you won’t need to switch back and forth between different documents or programs to find the information you need to complete a task. This also ensures that every party working on the task has access to the same information.
Simplifies Status Request Tracking
The days of manually tracking each of your projects are long gone thanks to workflow management software. You won’t need to manually contact another team member to find out the status of a certain project. All you will need to do is open your workflow management tool to quickly check the status of your projects.
It only takes a few seconds to find out who the task is assigned to, what progress has been made on it so far, and the expected due date. Because it’s so easy to keep track of projects, nothing will ever fall through the cracks again.
Easier to Scale Business
Scaling your business will be a breeze if you are using workflow management tools.
This tool will help you define each of your business’s workflows. If you have these workflows in place, it’s much easier to train new hires on how things are done. New hires can see what steps are involved in each process and what tasks they are responsible for just by opening this tool, so it basically trains them for you.
If someone leaves the business, it’s also easier to pick up where they left off using a workflow management tool. You won’t need to dig through their files and emails to figure out what still needs to be done.
For these reasons, the use of a workflow management tool can help you grow your business and reach new levels of success.
Ensures Everyone Follows the Same Process
Using a workflow management tool ensures that everyone on your team follows the same exact process when completing certain tasks. This way, no one will accidentally skip steps, complete tasks out of order, or follow their own rules when performing their job duties. Instead, their tasks will be completed according to the approved and established workflows.
Reduces Manual Work
A workflow management tool also reduces the manual work involved in completing tasks.
For example, say one workflow involves three steps that must be completed in order. Each task is completed by a different party. If your team is not using a workflow management tool, the party that completes the first task must manually submit a request to the party that is responsible for completing the second task. Then, this party must manually submit a request to the party that is responsible for completing the third task.
But a workflow management tool will automate this process. The tool will automatically send the task to the second party once the first party is done, and so on. This will drastically reduce the amount of manual work that goes into every project—and the number of errors that occur as a result of this manual work, too.
Workflow Management For Marketing
Every digital marketing team is unique, which means the workflow that is used to complete certain projects can vary from team-to-team. But here’s a look at what a typical workflow might look like for these content creation tasks:
- Blog Content
- Infographics
- Videos
Blog Content
The process of creating a blog may involve several parties, including a writer and editor. The workflow to create blog content may look something like this:
- Needs Content
- Ordered
- Editor Review
- Needs Edits
- Ready to Publish
- Published
Infographics
Infographic creation is a more complex process than blog content creation. This process may involve a writer, editor, and graphic designer. This is an example of the workflow that may be used to create an infographic:
- Pending
- Pending Concept
- Work Order in Progress
- Work Order Under Review
- Pending Work Order Edits
- Pending Client Approval on Work Order
- Design in Progress
- Design Under Review
- Pending Design Edits
- Pending Client Approval on Design
- Approved
- Complete
Videos
The process of creating video content is completely different from the process of creating blogs or infographics. Multiple parties are involved, including writers, editors, animators, graphic designers, and voiceover artists. An example of a video content workflow is:
- Pending
- Script in Progress
- Script Under Editor Review
- Script Edits
- Script Under Client Review
- Order Illustrations
- Illustrations in Progress
- Review Illustrations
- Edit Illustrations
- Needs Voiceover
- Needs Animation
- Review Animation
- Edit Animation
- Video Under Client Review
- Video Complete
These are some examples of workflows for common content creation tasks. But remember, every business is unique, so these workflows may need to be adjusted for your team.
Sometimes, you may even need to create a different workflow for each client, depending on their needs.
For example, the infographic workflow example above shows two different client approval steps. The first occurs once the concept of the infographic is complete, and the second occurs once the design of the infographic is complete. This gives clients an opportunity to make edits at two different stages in the process.
But some clients may not want to review an infographic until both the concept and design is complete. In this case, the workflow would only contain one client approval step, which would occur toward the end of the process.
It’s also important to note that a task may not need to go through each of these steps before it is complete. For instance, if a blog editor does not request editors from the writer, the blog will move straight from “Editor Review” to “Ready to Publish.” It will not need to go through the “Needs Editing” step to reach completion.
How to Get Started With Workflow Management Tools
Every digital marketing team can greatly benefit from using a workflow management tool. If you’re ready to experience these benefits, here’s what you need to do to get started:
- Define Your Workflows
- Set Up Gryffin
Define Your Workflows
The first step is defining the workflows for each type of project. Start by making a list of projects that your team is responsible for completing. Then, write out the steps that are involved in completing each of these projects.
For each step within a workflow, include a brief description of the task along with the party that is usually responsible for completing it and the amount of time required to complete it. This will make it easier for you to visualize and build your workflows within the workflow management tool.
It’s best to your digital marketing team for assistance with this task. This way, you can make sure that you don’t accidentally omit a step simply because you aren’t very familiar with the process.
Ask for your digital marketing team’s feedback once the workflows have been defined. Let them review each of the processes, ask questions, and voice their concerns so everyone understands the workflows and is on the same page.
Set Up Gryffin
There are many different workflow management tools on the market, but none that can compare to Gryffin. This tool allows you to create automated and custom workflows that meet your business’s unique needs. Gryffin was built by digital marketers for digital marketers, so it is designed with all of the features that digital marketing teams need to make their jobs easier.
Failing to use the right workflow management tool can cause costly delays and errors. It can also lead to overwhelmed employees and frustrated clients. Say goodbye to wasting time and money and hello to happy, satisfied employees and clients with Gryffin’s workflow management tool. Learn more about how Gryffin can benefit your business by booking a demo or starting a free trial today.